Microsoft Builds Community
By Aaron Ricadela
InformationWeek
February 17, 2003 12:00 AM
(From the February 17, 2003 issue)
Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net 2003 development-tool suite, due April 24, will include the ability to search the Web within programming-language interfaces for information from other developers, including reusable code published online. A future release, code-named Whidby, could include the ability for developers to find online code samples ranked by whether they originate from Microsoft or one of its partners. The emphasis on forging communities of developers who use Microsoft products is a response to the popularity of the user-group development model of open-source software. Says Microsoft senior VP Eric Rudder, "We're moving all of software from being document-and task-specific to being communication-specific."